The Violinmaking School of Venice

Venice stood apart from the other Italian city-states, a blend of culture and art from a bigger world beyond southern Europe. Violins from there reflect this.

When music lovers describe the violinmaking school of Venice, they’re not referring to an educational system per sé, with buildings and faculty and matriculated students and an alumni association. Unlike in Cremona, there is no official institution that carries on the traditions of local luthiers, despite the fact it is historically a very musical city.

Instead, the Venice “school” is an approach to making fine stringed instruments – violins, cellos, violas and the like – that harkens back to the 16th century. Violinmaking all largely began in Italy, although historians like to point out that so much of what is “Italy” today were city-states at the time. The cultures, economies, and governance varied from Milan to Cremona, Brescia, Padua, Pisa, Rome and Naples, among many others. Dialects varied from one city to the next and were sometimes hard to decipher between them.

But Venice itself stood apart. The city was never a part of the Holy Roman Empire: In fact, Pope Julius II excommunicated the entire city in 1606-1607, part of a larger political conflict, but also consistent with the cosmopolitan nature of Venice, the city and its ports being a crossroads of commerce with the (non-Christian) Near and Far East. Today, it is possible to find multiple examples of how this very Italian city with plenty of Catholic churches and religious art – which should make any pope happy – nonetheless exhibit Islamic influence, remnants of the close and friendly mixing of Venetians, Ottomans, Persians, Arabs, Jews and Mamelukes in the lagoon city.

The polyglot nature of Venice, and its political independence from the Church of Rome, very clearly had an effect on music and violinmaking there. During the Baroque period, it birthed composers Girolamo Dalla Casa, Ippolito Ciera, Giovanni Picchi, and the very popular Antonio Vivaldi. The style of music was expansive, splendorous, sometimes described as “colossal,” with compositions using multiple choruses and instrumental groups.

Violins crafted by a Venice violin maker were not for the courts of royalty, as was the case with those from Cremona. This mercantile city, where one writer once remarked that an instrument or voice was making music at all times in every home, was less concerned with the aristocracy despite its legendary wealth. The first great Venetian luthiers, Martinus Kaiser and his son-in-law Matteo Goffriller, made violins to order and according to price. Rich clients received instruments of the highest quality made of expensive woods and varnish. For instrumentalists with fewer funds, lower quality materials were used.

Later Venice school violin makers, Domenico Montagnana and Francesco Gobetti, were originally shoe makers, a trade that translated well to musical instrument craftmanship. Venetian violins from them and others were known for superbly rich bass tones and a full, projecting sound. These are concert hall stringed instruments, capable of being heard in row 50 – not just the small rows of chairs set up in a baron’s palace.

How have these instruments, and the nature of Venice violin making, stood the test of time? Internationally acclaimed cellist Yo Yo Ma considers his Montagnana cello his primary instrument (appraised value is $2.5 million). That rich Venetian violin or cello sound continues to play well in the gilded, rococo style La Fenice opera house, rebuilt in 2004 after a 1996 fire. This city, and its musical instruments, is the collective result of people who always loved music that was unrestricted by papal decrees, social class and cultural homogeneity.

The Lowdown on Fine Instrument Investing

Rare musical instruments as investments are attractive because a growing wealth market appreciates the finite supply of fine violins and other instruments.

Whether in a strong economy where market-traded securities are performing well, or in economic downturns when such securities aren’t, a perennial topic among the investor class is the wisdom of owning fine, scarce objects.

Those objects range from fine art to rare coins to antique cars to other collectibles such as stamps, first-edition antique books and precious jewelry, gems, silver and gold. But unique among these items are fine musical instruments – in particular the most storied and rare violins, cellos, violas, stringed bass and harps. Pianos are also in this category, albeit with huge costs relating to moving them from one owner to the next.

The most valuable violins are those crafted by the Italian master luthiers, Stradivari and Guarneri. As of mid-2019, the most expensive violin on earth is the Messiah Stradivarius (1716), valued at $20 million (US). The Vieuxtemps Guarneri, at $16 million, is the second-most valuable, followed by the Lady Blunt Strad ($15.9 million), the Carrodus Guarneri ($10 million), and the Ex-Kochanski Guarneri ($10 million). These prices are round numbers because most are held by museums or anonymous owners and not recently sold.

Interestingly, those instruments held by unnamed owners are often on loan to exceptionally talented players who themselves cannot afford to purchase the instruments, despite soaring career accomplishments.

For would-be investors, there are several critical questions to ask before bidding to buy one of the few thousand or so rare, fine stringed instruments made by a notable violin maker.

Is it a smart investment?

No reputable investment or auction house can legally predict the future value of a stock, a fund, an antique car, or a fine violin. An investor in fine objects very often looks beyond its monetary value to appreciate something more transcendent.

A Toronto based dealer, Ric Heinl, says a $10,000 instrument today could double in about 20 years, essentially a 3.6% rate of increase, which would be considered a laggard. But that doesn’t hold for all instruments. A 2013 study by economists at Brandeis University looked at rare violins as compared to the S&P 500 Index in the years 2007-2012 and found the musical instruments outperformed market securities; note this period bridged the global financial crisis that began in 2008, perhaps indicating these are counter-cyclical investments (i.e., they outperform the market in recessions).

Can it be bought in shares?

It is entirely possible for a collection of individuals to pool their funds to buy an instrument, although the legal arrangement for that would be on them, not the seller.

Another option is for the investor to purchase a portion of an instrument from a middle-aged player who intends to continue playing it for some time into the future. The agreement would be to purchase the remainder upon their retirement or death. What this does is provide liquidity to a player while allowing him or her to continue playing it.

Speaking of liquidity, it should be clear that the sale of these investments do not happen quickly. The global market – with an expanded base of wealthy collectors, particularly in Asia – means dealers sometimes must travel extensively with the instrument to show it to prospective buyers. Even a domestic sale takes months if not years to execute.

What is the size of the inventory?

About 650 Stradivari instruments – violins, cellos, violas, harps, guitars) – survive, and catalogs list at least 148 Guarneris that are extant. But instruments made by Maggini, Amati, da Salo, Stainer and others remain highly valued. And that is just the stringed instruments, not counting the Steinways and other remarkable instruments around the world.

The point is that value for all instruments is driven by scarcity. There will be no more Stradivariuses. Further, demand increases with increasing wealth in parts of the world that previously were not involved in such investments.

What are the transactional costs?

Reputable dealer and auction house commissions range from 5 to 20 percent of the sales price. Unless the investor is also very schooled in the instrument under consideration, it makes most sense to purchase through a dealer or auction house that can attest to the instrument’s authenticity (maker, provenance, condition, etc.).

What do you do with a fine instrument once you own it?

Better-preserved instruments should be played – because the world needs beautiful music, and the condition of the violin fares better with careful use and appropriate maintenance. This is why investors who are not players should and do loan their instruments to virtuosos.

The 12 Apostles Violin Cases by W.E. Hill and Sons

They don’t make the music but ensure the instrument gets to its audiences. This London violinmaker created some of the most beautiful cases ever made.

When is a package or container almost as valued as its contents? One imagines the Fabergé eggs as an incomparable embodiment and celebration of the exterior. On a much grander scale, some of the great concert halls of the world - the Culture and Congress Centre Concert Hall in Lucerne, the Boston Symphony Hall, Grosser Musikvereinssaal in Vienna, Berlin’s Philharmonie, the Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall, and the Christchurch Town Hall Auditorium (New Zealand) come to mind - are a type of packaging for the impressive music created within their walls.

There are violin cases that are or were made to approximate the beauty and craftsmanship of the fine violins held inside. Before the advent of scientifically driven case details (humidity gauges and the like), there were the 12 Apostles Violin Cases made by the W.E. Hill & Sons shop in London. As the name implies, there were only a dozen made (on New Bond Street, noticeably in the neighborhood of the Fabergé shop), perhaps because few could afford the opulence and fine workmanship that went into building these cases.

Lest anyone question the value of a case, which produces no music at all, consider the fact that one of the 12 Apostles sold at auction in 2016 for $17,220.

The Hill family violin shop, led by founder Willam Ebsworth Hill (1817-1895) existed for 105 years (1887-1992), but actually drew from a history of luthiers stretching back to Hill’s great grandfather. The firm made both violins and cellos, but was respected for its work in repairs, bows, fittings, identification and authentication, and ultimately, for fine case making.

The prized 12 Apostles were limited because of the extravagant time required to make them. The violin shop’s own brochure floridly described them: “In our opinion, the case containing so fine a work of art as a good violin should be pleasing and indeed beautiful....we endeavor, by the use of choice wood, and ornamental inlaid bordering, and the highest quality workmanship throughout, to make them as beautiful as possible, and receptacles worthy of fine violins.”

That workmanship included handmade locks and flush-bolts, a lined button (with cork) made to hold the bow, and intricate patterns of inlaid wood in musical motifs. All 12 are different - at least one case has its own covering of leather, a case over a case - and several have held violins by the fabled violinmaker, Antonio Stradivarius.

Such rich detailing on a case is not out of place, considering the time and place of the most accomplished violin, viola, and cello players of the day. Great concerts were attended by the higher echelons of society of the 16th, 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. Higher still were the courts and palaces where the most sought after musicians of the Victorian era - can you say Paganini? - would be hired to entertain private audiences. The etiquette of that time was excruciatingly precise; the arrival of the musician must clearly have been an observed and choreographed moment. To be dressed in the finest of clothes might also require an exquisite violin case.

Fine instrument cases, clearly the work of artists, do not have a catalogue raisonné as with the work of acclaimed visual artists. So the precise whereabouts of all of Hill’s 12 Apostles is not clear (based on an Internet search). The 2016 auction price might have raised the profile of this rarified group, sufficiently so such that any that are lost in an attic or orchestra hall storage room might turn up in the future.

Carl Frederick Becker: The Dean of American Violinmaking

The 17th and 18th centuries produced the Stradivariuses. But the 20th and 21st centuries had the Chicago violinmaker Carl Fredrick Becker.

Chicago’s Fine Arts Building, a gem of the Windy City just steps from Symphony Center and the home of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, is home to Carl Becker & Son. The firm now employs a fifth generation in the Becker family, which makes fine violins, violas, and cellos.

But perhaps best known among the Becker family is Carl Frederick Becker (1919-2013), who was the second generation in the family to become a violinmaker. His father, Carl G. Becker, was also a violinmaker (and who also crafted cellos) in the employ of William Lewis & Son in Chicago. But while the two worked side by side for more than 20 years (1948-1968), they didn’t open their own shop under the Becker family name until 1968, just seven years before the elder Becker died. Together, they made more than 500 instruments.

Even though Carl Becker Jr. only made 13 instruments by himself, he was renowned among violinmakers and stringed instrument players for his ability to repair and restore violins. He is famously credited for having restored the “Lady Blunt” Stradivarius, using a method of applying light pressure and tiny bit of room temperature water to a little dimple in the middle of the violin back.

Becker influenced several notable modern violinmakers who trained with him before his death in 2013, including Peter Beare, Charles Rufino, Samuel Zygmuntowicz and Eric Benning.

“He made these little mini brass bars that would put a very light pressure on the dent, pushing it out. He would dampen it very lightly with water and apply the tiniest bit of pressure,” says Charles Rufino, a New York luthier who spoke to The Violinist upon Becker’s death in 2013. “He didn't have to heat it or do any kind of destructive or threatening thing. This was the way he worked, all the time."

Over his 76-year career, Becker developed a sense of the relationship between the human musician and the “living” instrument. Ruffino observed that “Carl’s entire focus was: make it play great, and make it comfortable for the musician,” he says. “There’s an awful lot of arcane knowledge that goes into making an instrument comfortable.”

Becker’s great nephew, violinmaker Eric Benning, described his training with Becker as marked with a quality of exactitude. “One day I tried to assure him by saying, ‘I’ll be careful.’ Carl stopped me and said, ‘I don’t want you to be careful. I want you to be sure.’ There’s a world of difference between the two,” said Benning. “It was a vital perspective to share at that moment. I’m always mindful of the differentiation.”

Another tenet of Becker’s approach was to treat a violin repair as an engineering project. He mastered the distribution of tension by manipulating the pressure of the strings, changing neck angles, altering specific points about the fingerboard and adjusting the sound post and bridge.

The Becker family line of musicians and instrument makers dates back to Carl Jr.’s grand parents, who lost their first violin shop violin shop in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. Today, children and grandchildren of Carl Becker Jr. work in the Fine Arts Building shop, some as luthiers, others in the business administration aspects of the firm.

Why Mirecourt, France is the Bow Making Capital of the World

The discovery of the New World brought prosperous trade in Brazillian Pernambuco wood to Miracourt - establishing a legacy of fine bowmaking

Mirecourt, France is famous for two things: Violin and stringed instrument bow making, and the making of fine lace. That fact is as true today as it was in the 16th century.

But while Mirecourt’s history and the pedigree of its violin bows speak of refinement in the royal courts of European royalty and the aristocracy, it’s not without a little cross-Atlantic controversy. This is due to the source of the most prized basic material used in making the finest bows by the greatest Mirecourt bowmakers (“archetiers” as they are called). That material is Pernambuco wood.

When Portuguese explorers “discovered” Brazil in 1500, they immediately recognized the value of the land’s uniquely beautiful trees, particularly along its coasts. A rich degree of commerce developed, felling the various Brazilwoods and shipping them to the Old World. By 1555 the French admiral Nicolas Durand de Villegaignon sought to establish a colony there in part to harvest and import the wood.

That was unsuccessful, but trade between Brazil and Europe in these woods thrived. This time period coincides with the rise of skilled and renowned archetiers and luthiers (violin makers) in Mirecourt. The city was a mercantilist center, connected to the rapidly expanding world, trading in products, ideas and culture.

Musical instrument craftsmanship began to diversify with increasing wealth, such that by the 18th century bow makers began to hone their craft of producing violin bows. Mirecourt’s history includes famous architiers of the era: Dominique Peccatte, Emile Francois Ouchard, Eugene Sartory and Victor Fétique. Jean Baptiste Vuillaume, was one of Miracourt’s most renowned violin makers.

The bows from some of these archetiers remain in use today, some fetching prices as high as $45,000 at auction and are often offered for sale at high-end violin shops. The Pernambuco supply is greatly restricted today due to overharvesting, so other woods are now used - making the old masters’ bows even greater in value.

Today, almost 500 years later, Mirecourt remains the bowmaking capital of the world. While World Wars One and Two created great hardships - 18 workshops employing almost 700 people in 1925 had disappeared by 1945 - the creation of the National School of Lutherie in the 1970s in Mirecourt revived the professions of bowmakers, violinmakers, and even guitar and mandolin makers.

The city today has a museum dedicated to the history of violin making (Musée de la lutherie et de l'archèterie française), and what’s known as the national violin making high school named for Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume (Ecole Nationale de Lutherie Lycee Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume). Students at the school spend five years earning violin making technical diplomas, art trade degrees, and professional aptitude degrees. At least 24 hours per week are spent on benches making instruments and bows; the school focus is on violins, violas, cellos, double bass and viols.

Just as Mirecourt’s fine French lace will always be appreciated - and worn by many more than the aristocracy - so too are the bows and stringed instruments made today in this lovely French city.

Folk Fiddles and Rattlesnake Rattles

Violinmakers do not typically include parts of expired animals in their fine instruments. But nonetheless fiddlers add snake rattles for a variety of reasons.

Only in America.

The place of the violin in the hills of Appalachia and on the plains of Texas, and along many points in between, is one of great cultural richness. Before electronically recorded music, the fiddle was perhaps the only source of music available to the common man. There may not have been a “name” violin maker in Kentucky, no Stradivarius in South Carolina, and no fine cellos or violas made in Tennessee. But whether through roaming Roma (gypsy) troupes and merchants, or later from the Sears catalogue, those fiddles found their way to the churches, dancehalls, schools and barns of the old South. And people danced.

The fiddle remains an important instrument in rhinestone-studded country bands as well as their cousins in the bluegrass and even folk music genres. And sometimes, if you look inside those fiddles - perhaps not at a violin shop, but in the hands of a fine fiddler - you might find the rattle of a very dead snake.

Indeed - rattlesnake rattles are inserted through the f-holes into the interior of the violin body for a variety of reasons. A quick review of the literature (i.e., a Google search) turns up some pretty interesting bits of folklore ... or practical solutions:

It forces a softer touch. “When I was a small boy playing the fiddle, my dad gave me a rattlesnake tail to put in my fiddle! I wondered at the time why he did this? Only to find out later if you are sawing too hard, you could hear the buzz of the rattles. The smooth playing produced a sweeter sound and the tail didn't buzz.”

Channel God into your music. “The snake is the bad one in the Bible, and creates all kinds of noise in our lives. It's better to play with the grace of the Lord’s gift, than to beat the fiddle to death trying to play it! If you put a rattler's tail in your fiddle, listen for the buzz. If you hear it, just take a deep breath and look up! Play it again, you'll feel better and you won't hear the buzz, and that fiddle under your chin will make you and everyone around you feel relaxed and happy!”

Who needs a tambourine? “Alan Jabbour, retired field researcher for the Smithsonian (and the guy who collected many of those great recordings!) has a rattler's tail in his fiddle. He says it is to lend ‘a rhythm section’ to his playing. Now, I don't know when he is doing a dance that anyone can hear it (although, he does amplify, now...) but when he plays live or on some of his recordings you CAN hear the swishing of the dried tail inside his instrument!”

Sweeter sound, and vermin-free. “I read that some believe it ‘sweetens’ the sound of their instrument. And recently someone told me that mice like to enlarge the f holes in a violin if the violin is left lying on a table at night. But if a mouse jumps onto the violin and hears the rattle inside, it will get scared and go away.”

Better than a vacuum cleaner. “About those rattlesnake rattles in a fiddle. Ok, so the other night I finally poked one into my fiddle after reading that they are supposed to improve the tone, keep spiders from building webs, etc., and what do you think! The next day I notice that a big ball of lint, fuzz, dust and cobwebs had been gathered up by the sweeping motion of the rattle as it wandered around the inside of the fiddle. There might be truth to that bit of folklore after all!”

More cleaning tips. “One account is that the rattle settled the dust in a mandolin, providing a deeper clarity of sound. Fiddler Bev Conrad, experimenting with a rattle in her fiddle, removed it the next day to find the rattle dust-coated-a big ball of lint, fuzz, dust and cobwebs had been gathered up by the sweeping motion of the rattle as it wandered around in side of the fiddle.”

Even though the Powhatans didn’t have violins per sé... “The act of keeping a rattle in a musical instrument as an amulet to ward off evil spirits, especially for people steeped in superstition before their arrival to this country, could easily have derived from their own volition... learned from Native Americans as early settlers adopted other natural remedies.”

It’s an outdoors thing. “This particular practice had to begin prior to the 1900s when the fiddle was considered to be the Devil’s instrument. Therefore, the fiddle was not allowed indoors but was hung in the bar or on the porch as a compromise for what was useful to get the work done at corn shuckings and the like.”

It’s what the cool kids did. “Could it just be that someone did it because they thought it was cool and wanted to add some mojo to their instrument? And everyone followed suit because they wanted to be cool too? That kind of thing happens all the time in our modern society; why can't we allow ourselves to think that it happened in past generations similarly?”

What no one seems to report is an adverse effect on the music. So while obtaining said rattlesnake rattle comes with it’s own challenges (one commenter on a post said she founds hers on eBay) it might well be a good idea for a certain type of musician, a certain type of music, and a certain type of band - perhaps one that can shake, rattle and roll.

An Overview of American Violinmaking Schools

Luthiers practice a craft that derives from the old schools of Italy, Germany and France, but several schools for stringed instrument making are in the US.

Despite the omnipresence of manufactured violins from China, despite the decades of skills development that luthiers must have before becoming a “name” violin maker, and regardless of the intense tedium required of the craft, there still are people who wish to and eventually love making fine violins, violas and cellos.

Indeed, accomplished and aspiring violinists, cellists, bassists and violists will always value bench made stringed instruments. The good news is there are several luthier schools in the US such that there’s a good chance a hand-made violin will be American-made as well.

Boston: North Bennet Street School
This is a three-year program in violin making, restoration, and repairs, with an emphasis of hands-on work. Students build six violins and a viola in the course of their multi-year study. Yearly tuition is $26,000, with an estimated cost of materials of $1,000.

Chicago: Chicago School of Violin Making
Also a three-year, hands-on program, the director emeritus, Tschu Ho Lee (a graduate of the Mittenwald, Germany State School of Violinmaking), oversees a faculty of co-directors, a string instructor (who is also concertmistress with the Northwest Chicago Symphony), and a cello instructor. Tuition is $3,640 per trimester, with an additional $440 for a complete tool kit (if the student doesn’t acquire one elsewhere).

Red Wing, Minnesota: Minnesota State College Southeast
While situated about 46 miles from the Twin Cities, Red Wing is very much in the sphere of Minneapolis and St. Paul.

The school is a technical and community college, and this program is focused entirely on violin repair. Students can attend as little as a weeklong workshop or a full one-year program. No woodworking experience is required as violin repair is quite different. Tuition for in-state and out-of-state is the same at $167.29/semester credit; the program includes 34 credits of technical courses and five credits of general education credits to complete the diploma. Books, tools and supplies total approximately $1260.

Presque Isle, Wisconsin: The New World School of Violin Making
In comparison to the other schools, this institution (accepted by the Educational Approval Board of Wisconsin) includes instruction and practical construction experience in violin (build 3), viola (one), and two that include a violin, cello or viola. The focus is on construction of all instruments in the violin family based on classical and master models supported by hand tool techniques. Tuition is $2,975 for each of six or seven semesters ($17,925-$20,900).

Salt Lake City: Violin Making School of America
Averaging a student body of 25 people, the school has award-winning graduates in more than 19 countries; nearly 90% of graduates are employed in violin making-related careers. During a three-year course of student students create seven violins, and a cello; some students substitute a viola for one of the violins. Faculty include a woodworking director/instructor, instructor of varnish/setup/art class, an adjunct woodworking instructor, and a violin teacher. Annual tuition is $11,880; costs for tools range from $1500 to $2000.

Elsewhere in North and Central America are the Centre de Formation et de Consultation en Métiers d’Art in Quebec (Canada) and Escuela de Lauderia (National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature) in Querétaro, Quintana Roo (Mexico).

The Suzuki Method Approach to Learning Violin

An accomplished Japanese violinist studying in Germany was frustrated that children could learn the language faster than adults. But it birthed an idea.

Children learn to speak before they are able to read. So should beginner violinists learn how to create music before they are able to read music?

That is the premise of the Suzuki Method. Its creator, violinist Shinichi Suzuki, was an accomplished violin player who left his native Japan to study in Germany, where he noticed children easily pick up new languages while adults like him struggled.

This led to the development of his method, which promotes a very early introduction to music in children, who study how the instrument works, what good music sounds like, and how they can create the notes, tonality and articulation of what they hear on their own (very small) instruments. Only after several years of study “by ear” do students get introduced to reading written music.

The Suzuki Method is not just for violinists. One can learn to play by way of these learning principles on the cello, viola, bass, flute, guitar, harp, piano, organ, recorder, mandolin, guitar, trumpet and even voice.

And does it work? The Suzuki Association of America (SAA) promotes the teaching method, and also emphasizes the somewhat democratized nature of it. By this we mean how it eschews competition even while celebrating accomplishment. It also doesn’t reserve itself for “musical prodigies,” perhaps those from a family of accomplished musicians. Rather, the SAA says, “Suzuki students are normal children whose parents may have little or no musical experience. Their parents have simply chosen to introduce them to music through the Suzuki approach, a unique philosophy of music education.”

Former students of the Suzuki Method, now accomplished musicians, include Hilary Hahn, Leila Josefewicz, William Preucil, Jr., Rachel Barton, Jennifer Koh, Nickolas Kendall, James Stern, Frank Almond, Brian Lewis, David Perry, Rebecca McFaul, and Russell Falstad. Note that some begin with Suzuki but may continue their education by other methodologies before completing the Suzuki repertoire.

The local violin shop would likely be a good resource for locating a reputable Suzuki teacher. Odds are, a violin dealer already provides Suzuki-sized instruments for other students learning the Method.

The principles of Suzuki can begin even before the musician is born. An expectant mother can listen to classical music from stringed instruments, which perhaps the developing fetus can hear as well. Other fundamentals include:

• Exposure: Daily exposure to music, specifically from the Suzuki repertoire as well as other music.

• Begin early: Suzuki is the reason the modern violin maker builds the tiniest fractionalized instruments (as small as 1/32), as students begin as young as age 3.

• Parents as co-instructors: Mothers and fathers are expected to attend each lesson, and to provide a positive, nurturing environment for the young student.

• Non-competitive: The Method is one that encourages auditioning for groups and performance, but with less emphasis on competition and more on participation.

• Strict repertoire: Suzuki believed that technique, musicianship and style are developed through a series of pieces that build on the piece that came before it.

• Reading music: After basic playing skills are mastered, the student graduates to reading music.

Adherents to the Suzuki Method emphasize it’s not strictly for children on a path to careers in music, although that’s obviously a possibility. But it could be a foundation for artistry in many forms. Actress Sarah Jessica Parker studied by the method as a child, prior to being cast in the star role of “Little Orphan Annie” and later roles as an adult.

The Method may be too taxing for some parents. But for those who might enjoy the journey of learning to create beautiful music with their children, it might be just the right thing.

The Lowdown on the Viola da Gamba

Not one instrument but a family, this cousin of the violin and cello has a rich history in early music - and a future in contemporary music as well.

It isn’t a simple matter to find a viola da gamba for sale or a violin maker who crafts them. They are rare and fascinating. The stringed instrument family is a matter of arms and legs, and horizontal and vertical - all as described by the Italians in mellifluous terms.

The instrument popularly known as the violin is short for “viola da braccio,” which indicates the instrument is played on the arm (“braccio”) in a horizontal position. This is as opposed to the “viola da gamba,” or the instrument played vertically, between the legs (“gamba”). All viola da gamba are bowed with an underhand position and are collectively referred to as “viols”.

Generally larger than those arm-played violins - hence, the floor-rest position - the viola da gamba are actually a range of instruments of seven sizes: the rare predessus de viole, treble, alto, tenor, bass, and two contrabass versions (the great bass and the violone in D, tuned an octave lower than the great bass).

Not included in this list is the cello. This is because the number of strings on viola da gamba has six, sometimes seven, strings where the cello has only four. Tuned in fourths, the members of the viols family can be played with chords. The sound is considered quieter than more modern stringed instruments, and with the exception of the bass, too quiet in large orchestras where fine violins, violas and cellos will simply overpower the gamba. It’s more common to see a viola da gamba played in quartets and quintets – where the timbre of the instrument is prized in Renaissance and Baroque music.

Some of the signature compositions for viola de gamba came from the likes of J.S. Bach, Henry Purcell, William Byrd, Marin Marais and Francois Couperin. But the instrument family was notably part of 16th and 17th century amateur performances in affluent circles. The “mixed and broken consorts” (ensembles) included a bass viol, lute, cittern, treble viol, harpsichord or spinet, and vocals. Dutch paintings (Vermeer, Verkolje, et al.) frequently included a resting or played bass viola da gamba to reflect on domestic life and to convey social status of the subjects.

But contemporary composers haven’t forgotten the viola de gamba. Viola da Gamba societies in Great Britain and America, embraced by enthusiasts for early and contemporary music, encourage study of the family of viols. This is possible because these instruments are both more affordable (some are manufactured with automated techniques, others hand crafted) and accessible to adult students.

The Viola da Gamba Society of America - made up of players, violinmakers, publishers, distributors, restorers and fans - maintains 18 local chapters in far-flung regions, from the Appalachia South to New York City to Southern California. Interestingly, it was incorporated in 1962 by a small group of players in rural Maryland. The VDGSA sponsors an annual conclave around the U.S., but also has a robust website that includes free downloadable sheet music (example: Bach arrangements from the Yukimi Kambe Viol Consort), a microfilm catalog, and a program to stimulate development of new music for the viola de gamba.

Mittenwald, Germany: The Center of German Violinmaking

It’s a tiny town with a big claim in fine stringed instruments. The Klotz family started it a long time ago and today’s luthiers still learn their craft there.

When tourists travel to Germany, must-visit cities are Hamburg, Munich, Berlin and Frankfurt. Unless, that is, the tourists are musicians of the string variety, principally violinists, violists and cellists. If not musicians, then certainly student luthiers - violin makers - who have flocked to the small village of Mittenwald where Klotz-crafted instruments have been made since the mid 17th century.

The Klotz family is historically at the heart of the violinmaking history of Mittenwald municipality in Bavaria (Garmisch-Partenkirchen district). Beginning with Matthias I (1656-1743), and later his sons Sebastian and Georg, the violinmaking craft that ultimately became the principle industry of Mittenwald was born. Matthias himself had studied to be a Geigenmacher (luthier or violin maker) in Padua, Italy in the 1670s as a student of Jacob Stainer, whose reputation at the time was he made fine violins that rivaled the work of Stradivari. By 1856, the Bavarian government established a school of violinmaking in Mittenwald, the rolls of which listed more than 25 artisans with the Klotz surname.

The Klotz family’s rise is due in part to their craftsmanship, but also to where the town is situated. High in the Karwendel mountains, the maple and spruce trees there yielded very good tone wood, the kind suited to violins, cellos, and violas, just as the violins from Stradivari came from the Fiemme Valley in the Italian Alps.

Mittendwald was also on a trade route (stretching from Augsburg to Bolzano and Venice), which enables distribution to other points north and south. The town was the violin shop to the world at that point. But to be clear, Matthias Klotz learned his craft from the northern Italians in Padua.

Today, Mittenwald remains a tiny town (population 7,410) with a big reputation due in no small part to the school established in 1858 and still teaching Geigenmachers today. The Staatliche Berufsfachschule für Musikinstrumentenbau Mittenwald, a fulltime vocational school, offers training in violin, plucked instrument, woodwind instrument, and brass instrument making.

The village also celebrates its heritage, specifically in violins, at the Geigenbaumuseum in Mittendwald. The museum includes exhibits that explain how violin experts, dealers, and auctioneers distinguish the valued Mittenwald violins from cheaper, inferior knockoffs, as there were many even 150 years ago. Those distinctions are found in construction of the instrument, precise sizing, the flare of the scroll, the width of the f-holes, the tightness of the wood grain, and the hue of the varnish.

Labels in Klotz and other Mittenwald violins were uncommon (but not unheard of), so these other details have to be the distinguishing characteristics - as well as the rich tonal quality of that Karwendel mountain wood.

Today, the violin-making school in Mittenwald attracts student luthiers from all over the world. Many well-known modern masters of the craft received their education there including Hans and Nancy Benning, Charles Beare and Hans Weisshaar.

How to Choose a Violin Teacher for Your Child

Whether looking for someone to teach violin, cello or a flugelhorn, the teacher is vitally important to how well your child learns. Here are search tips.

The unfortunate aphorism, “Those who can’t, teach,” is largely untrue and completely misleading where it comes to music instruction. A large number of accomplished musicians - those who play in major philharmonic orchestras - also teach in schools as well as privately.

According to a study by Music School Central, a music college admissions advising firm, “being versatile is probably the best bet to making money as a musician,” says founder Bill Zuckerman. “The majority of successful musicians I know teach, arrange, compose and play in an ensemble.” He cites one study of recent graduates with music performance or music education degrees, more than half of who found work in performance or education within four months of graduation.

So the matter of finding talented teachers, even for beginners, should not be a problem, particularly in markets large enough to support professional musical organizations (orchestras, ensembles, commercial music production and even cover bands). The question might be, “where do I find the right instructor for my child?”

As an exercise, let’s boil that down to finding a violin teacher for a beginner or intermediate student (advanced students generally know the ropes, or perhaps strings, well enough to figure this out on their own). Here are the topmost suggestions (and the same ideas apply to study of the viola, cello, bass and virtually every other instrument):

Ask friends, trusted educators and staff at the local violin shop. Particularly for beginners, ask about violin teachers who successful inspire children who are picking up a stringed instrument for the first time. The violin maker at the local violin shop will likely know many violin teachers, for example, and might have a sense of how many of them find joy in teaching. If that doesn’t yield satisfactory results, try the American String Teachers Association. They have a search function by location, instrument (viola, brass, woodwind, etc.).

Ask questions. The teacher who is good for student A might not be the best for student B. As the parent, you know your child’s level of interest and discipline. Ask questions of a prospective teacher that have to do with your child. How much practice (hours per day/week) will make for a good student? At what junctures (quarterly?) should we check in on progress? Have you worked with a student with these characteristics (age, academic performance in other subjects, affinity for certain styles of music, etc.)?

Ask for references. Once you identify a potential teacher, you want to know what the experience of other parents and their students have been. This may not always be successful as some teachers will be reluctant to share information about existing students, but that will be determined on a case-by-case basis.

A final note from the Music Teachers National Association: “Parental support in the learning process is vital. Whether or not you know anything about music, take time to listen to your child play, provide exclusive practice time on a quality instrument, and celebrate his or her continued accomplishments.”

An Examination of Carbon Fiber Bows

All stringed instrument players know the importance of a good bow. But how do carbon fiber bows stand up to Pernambuco, Brazilwood, fiberglass and composites?

The history of fine violins, violin making - and violas and cellos for that matter - is rich with craftsmanship applied to all-natural materials, varying types of wood, horsehair and natural varnish to be specific. So it may seem almost heretical to talk about manmade materials such as carbon fiber for use in fine music.

Chalk it up to human ingenuity that, sometimes, what is manufactured from minerals and other resources can serve an artistic purpose. This is not to say that carbon fiber bows are perfect substitutes for wood bows - they are not - but for several reasons the manmade material is embraced by serious musicians, either as their primary bow or as a backup for certain kinds of playing.

Ask around at your preferred violin shop - they may well have clientele who use wood and carbon fiber, depending on the occasion. Even the most traditional violin maker will stock these carbon fiber bows in their shops.

Here are the advantages carbon fiber bows have over their wood (Pernambuco, Brazilwood) and other synthetic material (fiberglass or composites) counterparts:

Sound - Serious musicians almost universally prefer the Pernambuco bow for a richer and more nuanced timbre or resonance. But some will keep a carbon fiber bow for outdoor playing, or for playing within a large orchestra; they save their wood bow for chamber music where the violin, cello or viola voice is more pronounced.

Sturdy yet lightweight - As a manmade material also used in sports (e.g., carbon fiber tennis racquets), it should be obvious that carbon fiber bows can stand up to rigorous handling (e.g., travel). They are also considered strong at the tip and some prefer it altogether for playing.

Resilient to humidity and humidity changes - Organic materials such as wood will expand and contract, depending on the relative humidity of where it is. This is a problem for musicians who might travel from arid Los Angeles to perform in humid Washington, DC, or from climate-controlled rehearsals to outdoor events on sultry summer nights. A wood bow would expand with humidity, requiring adjustment of string tension - but a carbon fiber bow would be unchanged.

Reasonable cost - Expect to pay about $300 for a carbon fiber bow, give or take. The price is largely stable because it doesn’t depend on rare wood availability.

Sustainable - Both Pernambuco and Brazilwood come from Brazil, but deforestation there has severely cut the supply of the former and had the effect of driving the price up. Brazilwood is a term for a range of woods and as such they are in greater supply. Purchasing a carbon fiber bow could be considered an act of preservation of the Pernambuco tree (note: the Brazilian government is working to save the species).

Not to be confused with fiberglass and composites - These are the lowest cost types of bows, encouraged for beginner students or more casual players.

Factors affecting the choice and preference for a bow type include the instrument itself and the musician. Darkness and lightness of sound, speed of play, weight and balance all factor in. The best advice is to try both wood and carbon fiber bows to get a sense of the differences and similarities.

What to Know About Stringed Instrument Bow Rehairing

Bows of violins, violas, cellos and other stringed instruments can have hair issues: The horsehair bows fray, break and need fixing. It’s the nature of organic material.

Fine violin bows (as well as fine cello bows and viola bows) are a bit of a menagerie. There’s the frog of course, which isn’t at all derived from real amphibians, plus horsehair, the most important part. And tucked inside frog mechanism is the abalone slide, made from a real mollusk.

This last piece, the thin rectangle of iridescent purple and turquoise, is almost too pretty to hide inside the frog. It is in fact the same material known as Mother of Pearl used in jewelry. But the hardness of abalone is part of why it’s used in the vise-like mechanism in stringed instrument bows - along with several other precision parts - to hold the horsehair in place.

That said it’s the horsehair that gets most of the attention. This is partly due to it being visible and also because the vibration of the hairs sliding or striking the actual instrument strings produce the sound. Any violinmaker will attest that even the best Stradivarius violin is only as good as its bow, a powerful statement on the bow’s importance.

But bows fail and need repair - frequently. Active players might have their bows repaired and rehaired every six months. The reasons for this are sometimes obvious - broken bowhair mid-concert! - or very subtle. The horsehair stretches and breaks, or just fails to engage with the instrument’s strings to produce an acceptable sound.

A few things to look for that indicates failing bowstrings are:

• Broken hairs that are unevenly distributed, such as all on one side. This might be due to how you play or uneven bow tension, but either way it needs fixing.

• Frequent hair breaks, which might be about a bow-instrument mismatch, or the player is trying to force a sound (too firm a grip and pressure on the strings) that isn’t there.

• Seasonal weather conditions, or travel to a different climate, can affect the humidity and relative dryness and length of the bow hair. The dryer the conditions, the shorter and therefore more tense the hairs - perhaps too tense, leading to breakage.

• Bow bugs, the tiny mites that love dark places (inside cases) and the taste of horsehair, can destroy the bow hair in a few short weeks. Sunshine can go a long way to scare them out of a case; hair damage still needs to be addressed.

• Accumulated dirt on the hair, from human hands and sweat or the rosin and ambient dust, can compromise the horsehairs as well. Clean with a soft, clean dry cloth is recommended; veteran violinmakers often advise that detergents and solvents can cause more harm than good.

With the cost of a simple rehair priced at only around $65, players are urged to take their underperforming bows in to a violin shop for examination and a repair. It just isn’t possible for the individual musician to do it at home. The proper workspace and tools are required, not to mention the expertise. With frogs, horses and abalone already involved, it’s quite all right to hand the job over to a professional.

What is a “Student Violin Outfit” and What Are Its Benefits?

“Outfit” is another word for “set,” as in how the three primary components (violin, bow, and case) are sold in a package. Sometimes it’s a better buy.

The beginning violin student and even someone with a few years of study might choose to purchase what is called a “violin outfit”. This is in contrast to separately purchasing the violin, bow, and the case.

Why would a student (and the funding source, typically parents) go one route over the other? It is basically a matter of having strong preferences for characteristics of each component, versus not knowing why they would prefer one bow, one violin, or one case over another. And some of that has to do with simply how much tolerance the buyer has for shopping or confidence when entering a local violin shop and speaking with a violinmaker.

These same considerations go for students of violas and cellos.

It isn’t difficult to find violins for sale at a local shop, online or in one of the large chain music stores. Violas and cellos for sale are similarly easy to find. The challenge isn’t finding them as much as knowing which models to buy. For beginning players, it’s a good bet that an outfit put together by a local violin shop is going to be a good buy.

Pricing of outfits - pretty much around $299 at the low end up to $2000 - is what makes them attractive as well. But that’s not to say individual components will necessarily cost more if purchased separately. All too often the pricing of an outfit might be misleading when, for example, available violins are of acceptable quality but the bow and case are subpar.

To help a violin buyer determine if the outfit components are of reasonable, “beginner level” quality, here are some things to look for:

Bow: For the beginner, a bow made of fiberglass is common and acceptable, although a student might also consider a carbon fiber bow because they are sturdy (sturdier than wood, which tends to be more expensive) and are less affected by temperature and humidity. More expensive are the Brazilwood and Pernambuco bows, although the Pernambuco (considered by many to be “the best”) are in short supply due to deforestation of the tree in its native Brazil (Brazilwood is derived from several species of available trees and as such is relatively inexpensive).

Case: A more expensive violin for a dedicated student might have a case with a built-in humidifier, thermometers and hygrometer (to check for humidity). But for students with a first violin, only the following should be a feature of the case: bow placement is secured to avoid contact with the violin, plus an extra compartment to hold rosin and a wiping cloth; interior padding with contours that mold to the shape of the instrument; hard exterior construction, made of wood, compacted foam, or carbon fiber. Soft-sided cloth carrying bags simply do not provide the same degree of protection.

Violin: A student’s teacher might be the best guide in determining which beginner violin would work best. At the minimum, the strings need to be set right, neither too high nor too low. The pegs and fine tuners need to be operational. And the spacing of the strings, the “bow clearance,” should be such that the bow does not hit the edges of the instrument when the violinist is bowing the outer strings.

The beginning student is also advised to find a luthier (violinmaker) who can determine where the student is at in his or her training. If the commitment is strong and there is some evidence of emerging talent, a smart strategy of investment in a good instrument, bow, and case might be in order. If the student has yet to demonstrate such qualities, a lower-priced violin outfit is perhaps the better choice.

Airline Traveling Tips for String Players

Violinists, violists and cellists know the score: It can be hard to fly with stringed instruments. Savvy musicians know the top tips of air travel.

Traveling on airplanes with musical instruments of any kind can be a challenge, particularly if we’re considering professionals who are carrying fine violins as opposed to a child traveling with an inexpensive student violin. But violins are not double basses, just as piccolos are not sousaphones. Size matters.

As does the particular carrier you are flying with, as well as the interpretation of the rules by each plane’s flight crews. The rules on United Airlines might different from those on Spirit, American, Southwest, Alaska and JetBlue airlines. Even the time you board your flight can make a difference.

But at least there are, since 2015, U.S. Federal Aviation Administration rules that bring a semblance of order and universal rules - and prevent last-minute price gouging that plagued musicians for a long time.

The following provides a quick run-down of the rules and recommendations for violinists, violists, cellists, double bassists, and, of course, musicians who play the viola da gamba:

Small enough to carry on board (no seat) - Violins and violas are usually deemed small enough to carry on board on most flights. Tip: Pay for early boarding, as that makes it more likely you’ll get space in the overhead bins near your seat.

Carry on board with a seat - While the rules are left to the discretion of each airline, it is possible to purchase a seat for a larger instrument (cellos and basses). Of course it makes sense to make that purchase in advance to ensure you and your instrument will be on the same flight. There is some judgment that may be left up to the flight crew as to whether your cello needs a seat in coach or first class, further emphasizing the need to work this out in advance.

Must check with baggage - When on-board space does not allow (which might happen with smaller regional carriers), it may be necessary to check your instrument. This is why your local violin shop recommends a sturdy case, even though many violinists would never consider checking their instrument; at such times, particularly in lieu of shorter regional distances, travel by car or train might make more sense.

Humidity issues - Planes as well as destinations might have a very low humidity factor. This is potentially an issue for the instrument if you originate in a humid environment. Humidifiers in the form of sponges in specially constructed containers are available to release moisture in a controlled fashion; ask your violin maker about whether he or she carries these in their violin shop.

TSA screening - Minimize any additional items inserted into your violin’s case, as it might prompt the Transportation Safety Authority employee to open and handle the instrument in order to examine it. It is more likely to sail through x-ray screening hands-free if the instrument and bow alone are contained in the case.

Non-stop, direct, connecting and smaller (regional) planes - If you have to change planes on a trip it means repeating the boarding procedures and possibly educating a new flight crew on what you’re doing. Or if you have a larger instrument that is checked in baggage, it’s one more opportunity to be mishandled or lost. So choose your itinerary to be as direct/non-stop as possible.

So is travel worthwhile, given all these factors? Only you can decide. But the greatest musicians travel the most - follow their lead and learn to adapt.

Viola, Cello and Violin Bows, Bow Bugs and Bad Hair Days

Tiny, bow hair-eating bugs really exist and they can wreak costly harm to violin, viola and cello bows. Save yourself aggravation and money by following these preventive steps.

Almost all decomposition is actually the work of small bugs and microorganisms. That includes the unfortunate destruction of the hairs of cello, viola and violin bows, the work of millimeter-size bugs known as dermestidae or “skin beetles.”

You’ll know them by their “work” - the evidence of a bow hair bug infestation is when bow hairs on violins unaccountably break. This can happen to the hairs of viola and cello bows as well. It’s not that these types of bugs (there are between 500 and 700 separate species worldwide) are music haters. They simply prefer to eat dry organic material, from plants and animals, which includes skin, animal hair, feathers, and natural fibers. That includes horsehair, the material used in most bows of string instruments (lower quality bows use nylon or other synthetic material).

Unfortunately, their food source on instrument bows isn’t limited to bow hair. The same bug has been known to damage the frogs on fine bows by consuming both tortoiseshell and ivory. They can also eat whalebone wraps on the bow grip.

You will naturally turn to your local violin shop for advice if this happens. Unless you know how to string horsehair yourself, you have little choice but to have a skilled craftsman do that for you. But that’s addressing a symptom, not the problem - and it will happen again if you don’t find the little bugs and banish them to as far away from your bow as possible.

The facts are that these dermestidae find violin cases a perfect home. It’s a dark place most of the time and evidently the horsehairs provide them with a delicious meal.

If your violin “lives” most of its life in a human-occupied home, it’s almost inevitable they will find their way into your violin case (our homes are host to thousands of species and billions, possibly trillions, of bugs and other microorganisms, many of which are beneficial).

Fortunately, there are a number of relatively easy steps one might take to keep them at bay, protect your bow, and reduce the number of visits you make to your preferred violin shop:

1. Breathing and sunshine exposure - Air and light, sunshine in particular, are what the bow bugs fear most. So open up the case, remove the bow and violin and allow each a few days of exposure.

2. Vacuum your case - The bugs leave their larvae (offspring) in nooks and crannies that might escape the air and light. But a good nozzle vacuuming will remove most if not all of them.

3. Repair/replace your bow - If your bow is already suffering from bow bug damage, it will be necessary to replace the bow hair. Your violin shop will or should be able to recognize when a repair or replacement is due to bow bugs.

4. Replace the case? - Particularly if it’s an old case that hasn’t been opened in a while, it might be a good idea to start over (while having the bow repaired) with a new case. But be forewarned, there are always bow bugs looking for new places to inhabit.

5. Store the bow outside the case? - In a situation of uncertainty about bow bugs living in your case, it might make sense to store the bow in a light, airy location until you can resolve what’s happening inside the case.

6. Kill them with sweet scents (not pesticides) - Essential oils such as rosemary oil, cedar oil, or cedar wood and cake of camphor, can be placed inside the case to repel bow bugs. Mothballs are believed to be harmful to human health, and pesticides might hurt the instrument.

Perhaps one additional piece of advice is simply to play long and often. Making music with your stringed instrument brings more light and air to the instrument overall. The fiddler on the roof knew what he was doing!

Bow Rosin: How to Choose the Right Rosin for You

The friction created by rosin is essential for playing all bowed stringed instruments such as violins. But the choices of types and brands are varied and vast.

There are quite a few questions - and unresolved matters of opinion - on the technical matter of rosin use on violin, viola and cello bows. It’s common for beginning, intermediate and advanced players to ask, “Which rosin is right for me?” Unfortunately, there is no single or simple correct answer.

The reason for this is there are too many variables. A concertmaster from Helsinki might need entirely different rosin for performing in Havana - because of the effect of temperature and humidity on the substance. A violinist may be comfortable with one type of rosin early in their training then switch to a different rosin later because he or she discovers they get a different, richer sound as a result of the new rosin.

For the most part, finding the rosin for your stringed instrument bow is a matter of trial and error - and, personal preference. A rule of thumb is that the larger the instrument, the softer the rosin; so the rosin for a violin bow would likely not be ideal for a cello. At most violin shops - brick and mortar or online - you will find rosin made specifically for specific instrument bows.

Consult first with your teacher, and second with your local violin shop, if you are a new violinist or are unhappy with the rosin you are using. They should be able to provide specific ideas for you to try, depending on your instrument and the sound you wish to produce.

That said, understanding the very nature of rosins is going to make you better able to understand what to expect from what is essentially tree resin. Called colophony or Greek pitch, rosin is a sap derived mostly from conifer trees.

As a product of nature, it comes with variations. Rosins from Indonesia, China and Vietnam - where the majority of rosins originate - are from Pinus massoniana and P. Elliottii (Masson’s Pine and Slash Pine, respectively). Rosins sourced in the Americas are from Pinus palustris (Longleaf Pine) and P. taeda (Loblolly Pine). Mexican rosin is likely from one of several pine varieties. European rosin is from P. pinaster (Maritime Pine) or P. sylvestris (Scots Pine) or P. halepensis (Aleppo Pine).

The point to be made regarding these different sources is that with so many different types of conifer trees, differences between one tree and another, and one season from another, the product is not unlike grapes to the winemaker. There will be subtle differences even within one rosin manufacturer’s brand.

Some instrumentalists will opt for “all natural” rosins, although that’s slightly misleading in that there are no absolutely “pure” rosins. Some have additives (including tiny amounts of gold, silver, essential oils, powders, and gums). But even those without additives have naturally occurring impurities.

In some cases, the violinist or cellist might have an allergic reaction to the dusty nature of rosin. Antihistamines are a way to fight that; for the medicine-averse, frequent hand washing and cleaning of the instrument is recommended.

Bottom line: Get to know which rosin works best for you (with objective assessment from your instructor). And if traveling to a different environment, where humidity and temperatures can be different, plan to spend a day or two in advance of performing to test out rosins that other players there recommend to you.

Student Instruments: When You Should Rent, and When You Should Buy

Studying a stringed instrument like a violin, viola or cello can be pricey. The decision to rent or buy largely depends on the student’s age and commitment.

Adults who enjoy being musicians by and large were enthusiastic about studying their instrument as children. They may not stay with the instrument they started on - how many bassoonists started with the clarinet, or percussionists with the piano? - but for the most part it was exciting to start the process of learning how to play.

For every confirmed instrumentalist, however, there are a multiple of dropouts. This is a major reason why parents are hesitant to invest in a musical instrument, at least in the beginning stages of study. When it comes to violins that is even more the case because violins come in nine graduated sizes, starting with the 1/8 size for arms 16 inches long; the largest (adult) size, the 4/4, is for arms 23 inches in length. This is a practical necessity of playing, as the size of the instrument has to be easy and comfortable for the musician.

Still, even those student size violins can be costly. As with children’s clothing, they will outgrow it in a year or two. Cello, viola and violin rentals are usually available at most local violin shops, which also provide instrument sales for students and beginners.

If the beginning player is a child, it probably makes sense to rent, particularly if the violinist-to-be is not yet committed to the instrument. Rental violins are typically used instruments maintained by the local violin shop. Enlist a professional - either a local violinmaker or the child’s teacher - in choosing an instrument that will inspire the student to enjoy study, practice, and performing.

It’s important to note, however, that higher quality instruments - those crafted with higher quality wood and fitted with better accessories - sound better and are easier to play than cheaper instruments. For a young violinist, then, once his or her commitment to the violin is confirmed, it makes better sense to invest in a better sounding, higher quality violin.

Though some violin shops may encourage parents to “rent through the sizes,” it may not make financial sense to do so. In many cases the cost of purchasing can be at about at par with the cost of renting for about a year. Even smaller-than-full-sized violins hold their value and those parents that purchase smaller violins for their growing and developing player have the option of trading in smaller violins for larger violins, lesser quality violins for more fine instruments.

This is a time, after all, when a love for music and playing can be very strong for the student who has proven they have the discipline, talent, and heart for it. Therefore, it’s a time to get serious about committing to an instrument as well. It needn’t be a new instrument. In many cases, used instruments properly set up by the shop, can sound excellent and come with an excellent price tag.

Experts will tell you that there is a psychological advantage of purchasing an instrument for a child rather than renting one. A student who owns his or her own violin, viola or cello is more likely to practice and take lessons and commit to study long-term knowing the instrument is their very own.

Let us never forget, an instrument may take the player to college and beyond, or simply be the instrument they will cherish the rest of their lives in playing for special occasions, holidays, and friends. How much the instrumentalist and their family will or should pay for the instrument is a function of the degree of commitment and available resources. There is certainly a point when the price-value of a violin to the student becomes clearer.

The promising violinist may need to spend several thousands of dollars for the violin that matches his or her ability and ambitions. Before buying, do some talking: to teachers, to luthiers, and to other violinists. They may be able to offer good advice - and perhaps a lead on what you can afford or a violin financing plan that fits your budget.

Violins, Tuning Forks and 440 Concert Pitch

Being “off pitch” is more often a metaphor for poor communications. But with violins, oboes, and concertmasters, it hits on the science of music.

In a modern world, we expect everything to be standardized. With a few exceptions - the inability one encounters trying to plug American electrical devices into European outlets being one of them - a globalized economy and culture have more or less made the vast majority of tools and instruments interchangeable according to universal agreements and standards.

Another one of those exceptions might be the tuning of notes in Western culture music. Music is, after all, quite global. And yet going back decades and up to today, finding that perfect Concert A is elusive. Strike up a conversation on this topic in a violin shop populated by six people and you may well get six different viewpoints.

First, there is a scientific way of determining pitch, which conventional wisdom says is 440 hertz for the Concert A. That sounds pretty standard, right? Except the Concert A for non-transposing instruments (violins, violas, cellos, harp, flute, piano, and yes, the marimba, among others) is actually a different note for transposing instruments (double bass, piccolo, B-flat clarinet, contrabassoon, French horn, B-flat trumpet and, of course, the glockenspiel, among others). This is mostly a matter of semantics, but it also hints at the complexity of a single musical note.

That said, with the invention of the tuning fork, and standardizing it to sound waves (the 440 Hz), at least musicians, conductors and full orchestras could at least know what that standard pitch would be - right? Well, not exactly. Science and art rarely meld perfectly. You could say they aren’t in concert. The disagreements or inconsistencies of tuning forks go back almost 100 years, possibly more:

• Invented in 1711 by British musician John Shore, the tuning fork produced the first pure tone (technically superior to a stringed instrument because it has much less of an overtone that would override or muddle the perception of the fundamental note). The forked shape, with parallel tines, converges at the base while the handle is connected to a resonance box, which amplifies the sound. But air temperature can affect the frequency, so its use is set at 68 degrees F, or 20 degrees A. Which doesn’t necessary hold for outdoor July concerts in the Hollywood Bowl.

• The standard 440 Hz setting of tuning forks doesn’t get full agreement with everyone. Reportedly, the Boston Symphony Orchestra is set to 444 Hz, the New York Philharmonic to 443 Hz, and the Berlin Philharmonic 445 Hz. Some solo violinists intentionally tune at a number above the orchestra’s 440 Hz, around 442 Hz for example, to create a slightly brighter sound.

• And which instrument tunes to the tuning fork before tuning the entire orchestra: the concertmaster violin or the oboe? In a concert band/wind ensemble, the absence of all strings defaults this responsibility to the oboe, the principal (first chair) clarinet, or sometimes the principal flute or saxophone. But in an orchestra, it is not uncommon for the concertmaster violinist to cue each section to its Concert A. Still, the oboe is more often than not the instrument by which all others find their pitch.

Alas, the familiar metal tuning fork itself is slowly giving way to electronic versions thereof. The most accurate of these, the strobe tuner (using stroboscopes) is nonetheless expensive and temperamental, with moving parts that tend to require service and repairs. Only the luthiers making and repairing the finest instruments have access to these.

Violinmaking: Why Bosnian Maple Wood is King

Legendary violins are made of Bosnian wood grown hundreds of years ago. But can modern luthiers replicate what Stradivari had available to him?

The extraordinary sound of the fine violins, violas and cellos made by the legendary luthiers Antonio Stradivari (1644-1737) and Guiseppe Guarneri (1698-1744) is attributed to many factors. Workmanship is of course at the top of the list. So too are the geometrics of form, solid joints, scrollwork detail, symmetry, and a flush fitting bridge - to name a few critical details.

But the most obvious feature that Stradivari, et al. employed was the wood - a Bosnian maple that remains today the preferred material for fine instrument making. The characteristics of Bosnian maple - referred to as tonewoods, as is also the northern Italian spruce that is often used together with Bosnian maple - are the subject of centuries of speculation between violinmakers and their many devotees.

The Bosnian maple tree itself is native to mountainous southern Europe. A violin maker in the 17th century may have had an extra advantage at crafting a fine stringed instrument due to climatic conditions at the time - and perhaps an unwitting assist from foresters who harvested the wood.

The time period that falls roughly from the 16th to the 19th centuries is referred to as “the Little Ice Age.” This cooler period, marked by larger glaciers and poor crop yields, bore one possible benefit: the Bosnian maples, and other trees as well, were more dense, as measured by tree rings. In theory, this contributed to the enduring superlative sound of a Stradivarius instrument.

The role of the foresters might sound apocryphal (if not slightly romantic, where the brutish lumbermen are somehow collaborators with the likes of Tchiakovsky), but research conducted in 2015 seems to indicate a chemical processing of the wood contributed to its excellence. The study used five different analytical techniques to assess tiny shavings of wood from two Stradivarius cellos, two violins as well from the master luthier, and a violin made by Guarneri.

The findings were that both luthiers, who were working at roughly the same time, used wood that had been treated with something containing aluminum, calcium, copper and other elements. Why? Other wood used to build furniture at the time contains these same minerals. It appears a worm and possibly fungal infestation was affecting much of Europe at the time, and this treatment was used on Bosnian maple to ward off those pests.

There is no evidence that Stradivarius and Guarneri were aware of this. The study was published in 2016 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

With or without worms, fungi, and chemical treatment, Bosnian wood remains an honored component of contemporary violin making.

Professionals engaged today in silviculture (tree farming) may not be aware of this use. But as a horticultural industry guidebook on various tree cultivars says about Bosnian maples, “Perhaps the greatest asset of a Bosnian maple is its poise…cool green spring foliage on a vase-shaped form that would make it one of the best specimens in any garden.”

It’s not at all hard to imagine a string quartet playing Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons” in such a garden. Bosnian wood has beauty in all phases of its lifecycle.